Before it's too late
by 411charlee
Summary: Prompt: Oliver proposes to Felicity over Coms at a dire time because he fears it will be the only chance he gets (Diggle, Laurel, and/or Thea are back at the lair watching anxiously for Felicity to say an answer)
1. Chapter 1

**BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE**

He didn't want to come back – he didn't want this in his life anymore, but there was one thing that he needed more than just a normal life and that was Felicity. Ever since he made the choice of having her, being with her he never wanted to let that feeling go – ever.

There were four possible locations and even though they hated splitting the group up, they had no other choice. His heat signature device showed not traces of life inside the warehouse but chasing after the ghosts and Damien Dhark the last couple of months taught him that nothing was ever what it seemed. He searched every possible crevice and all he could find was a big fat nothing. He was ready to make his way back to his bike when he heard it – it was some sort of trip switch and he knew he wasn't going to make it out in time. His body prepared itself for the hit and when he came too he was lying buried under rubble in what seemed to be the middle of the basement of the abandoned warehouse. He couldn't move. After the explosion his comm went dead and all he could hear was distortion.

He tried breathing but everything hurt. He took quite a fall if he was lying in the basement. He couldn't feel his legs. At last he stopped trying to move and instead decided to focus on her. To focus on her face, her eyes, her smile, her smell, her voice…and then he heard it. He didn't know if he was hallucinating but then he heard Thea's voice frantic with worry in the background he knew they solved the problem with the comms and it was all real.

"Oliver? Oliver can you hear me?" Felicity yelled.

He tried talking but when he opened his mouth to speak a loud cough erupted out of his lungs and that's when he saw how serious it was…blood was trickling down his neck over his lips. He knew he didn't have a lot of time. Even if they sent help now, he knew there was a huge chance that they would be able to find him right away….he could die.

In almost a hoarse whisper he managed to say her name "Felicity" and started coughing again.

"Oh thank God Oliver. Are you okay? Where are you?"

"Felicity" he said again, his voice a bit louder but it hurt so much.

"Oliver, where are you, your tracker went dead, please tell me where you are?" He could hear her trying to hide the hysterics in her voice.

"I'm at the warehouse. There was a trip switch on one of the doors and a bomb went off. The floor collapsed. I'm lying in the basement with rubble on top of me."

He heard people yelling orders in the background as her breath hitched. "Okay, just stay calm honey, everything's gonna be okay. Dig's coming to get you. Please just stay with me."

"Felicity, I need…say something."

He could hear her sob on the other side.

"Felicity, you know I love you right?"

"Yes I do and I love you Oliver. So so much, but don't talk too much. You need to save your strength. Dig's on his way."

"I'm so happy that I have you in my life….you make me happy Felicity. I want you to know that I couldn't imagine my life without you. I'm so sorry I took so long for us to be together. I never meant to hurt you Felicity."

"Oliv…"

"You were right about dinner that night when Thea and Laurel came to our house in Ivy Town. It was something more than just dinner. I was planning on proposing." He started coughing violently now and the more he coughed, the more blood started spewing out of his mouth.

"Oliver? Are you okay? What's happening? Are you still there?"

He finally got the cough under control, but his eye lids were getting heavier with each breath he took. He would lose consciousness soon and he knew he needed to say what he wanted to say before it was too late.

"Yeah, still here….Felicity, I need you to know that I wanted to build a future with you, have a family with you and I know I might not have that now, but I need to know…..Felicity will you marry me?"

He barely said the words when the distorted sound returned to his ear and then everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

Her ears were ringing, everything became a blur and all she could hear over and over in her head was " _Felicity will you marry me?"_

She hadn't realised that she almost passed out until she focused on the glass of water Laurel put in her hand.

"Are you okay?" Laurel asked.

"Oliver?" was all she could get out. She knew the comms disconnected again and now her hysterics were showing when she finally realised he didn't know what was going on. He was lying all alone, hurt in an abandoned warehouse trying to make peace with the fact that he was going to die and spoke his last words. "I didn't even get to answer him." She sobbed as her body reacted to the shock of what just happened.

"He's gonna be okay Felicity. Dig's gonna find him. I promise everything will be okay." Laurel touched her shoulder.

Felicity sniffled and then another worry set in….Thea. With big eyes she asked "Where's Thea?"

Laurel smiled softly as she looked to the back of the lair. "She left with Dig to find him. She didn't want to sit here and wait. He's the only brother she has and I know they disagree about a lot, but she loves him."

"I know." She nodded as she moved back to her computer typing profusely trying to get the comms back online.

"Dig, do you copy? Dig?" Laurel tried the comms, but still there was nothing but silence.

* * *

Felicity didn't know how long she typed, but the more she typed the more her tears blurred the view of the screen. Finally, when she was just about to give up sounds started running through the comms. She could hear it was Thea, but they could only make out parts of her words.

"Thea? Please repeat, we can't hear you." Felicity said in-between tears.

"Okay….hosp…al…O…ie" was all they could hear and then the signal disappeared again.

Even though it was cryptic both Felicity and Laurel knew there was only one way to find out what was going on – they needed to get to the hospital.

* * *

She didn't exactly know how to react to all the pipes and machines linked to his battered and bruised body. She had seen him hurt. Hell, she had been frantic with worry before and she had thought of ways to help him before while he was hurt, but this was the worst she had ever seen him. Maybe it was worse in the sense that she didn't need to hide her real feelings anymore, maybe it was the fact that he was lying in a coma and they didn't know if he'd ever open his eyes again. Maybe it was guilt that was tearing away at her knowing that he'd wanted to propose so many times before and never found the right moment. Maybe it was because she never got to tell him that she wanted a life with him too and she couldn't ever imagine living without him. She had tried living without him before, but she wasn't fooling anyone but herself.

She sat silently next to his bed holding his hand. It had been more than three days since the explosion and there was still no change. When Dig brought him in he was barely breathing, he had lost a lot of blood, both his legs were broken from the fall and some of his ribs were fractured, but after hours in surgery they managed to stabilize him.

It was one of the most trying times in her life - the only thing holding her together at that moment was hearing him breathe. She pressed her lips gently to his fingers when a stray tear dropped on his skin. She turned for a moment to get a Kleenex when an earth shattering yell twirled her back around within seconds.

"Felicity!" He yelled and sat up straight in his bed almost pulling out every wire and tube connected to him with the force.

"Shhhh, it's okay." She rushed over pushing him down on the bed slowly, gently stroking his face with the back of her hand, reassuring him she was right there.

He finally calmed down as he focused on her face. She knew she looked like a real vision - she had dark circles under her eyes and tear tracks over her face, but despite that she had a smile on her face. He was alive and he was awake. She couldn't stop herself and lunged herself over him capturing his lips in one move. When he responded to her kiss, she knew he could recognise her and that everything was gonna be okay.

"Hey." He said as he smiled softly when she let go of him looking him straight in the eye, tears streaming down her face.

"Hey. I'm so happy you're awake." She said softly as she sat back down next to his bed pressing his hand next to her face.

"Felicity?"

"Yeah?"

"You didn't…."

"Yes. My answer has always been yes Oliver. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to marry you. I love you."

His face lit up at the confession and he somehow gathered enough strength to pull her towards him again. He kissed her with such resilience that even he didn't know existed inside him.

"I love you too." He whispered as he smiled into her mouth continuing their kiss.


End file.
